The following organizations are affiliates of the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. They are community partner organizations who contribute to the Museum’s mission to gather, engage, and educate people to celebrate and preserve the history, arts, sciences, and rich diversity of our region. The Museum acts as a fiscal sponsor and provides oversight and administrative support of their activities. The groups are responsible for the coordination and fundraising for each of their projects and the museum supports their efforts.
- Fiestas Mexicanas
Dedicated to preserving and promoting area Latino heritage and culture through celebrations based upon Latino traditions. - Mariachi Northwest Festival
Student workshops and performances that celebrate music and education, with student recognition and enrichment with activities utilizing professional musicians and emphasizing Mexican heritage. - Wenatchee Arts Education Consortium
Dedicated to fostering arts education in schools and in the community. - Wenatchee Jazz Workshop
Promoting the art of jazz by bringing professional musicians to work with local school jazz band students. Support the Wenatchee Jazz Workshop with a tax-deductible donation. - Wenatchee Riverfront Railway and Navigation Association Miniature Train
Maintains and operates a train track layout in Wenatchee’s Riverfront Park, offering rides on selected weekend days in spring, summer and fall.
As a cultural center, WVMCC works closely with tourism, economic development, science and arts organizations including:
- Wenatchee Downtown Association
- Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority
- Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Wenatchee Valley Erratics
PANGBORN DOCUMENTARY FILM PROJECT
Project Summary:
In 1931, at the fragile intersection of technological optimism and rising global tension, American aviators Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr. completed one of the most daring feats in aviation history, the first nonstop trans-Pacific flight. Launching from northern Japan and landing unexpectedly in the Wenatchee Valley of Washington State, the journey pushed human endurance, mechanical innovation, and international diplomacy to their breaking points.
Yet despite its historical importance, the flight and the extraordinary story surrounding it have largely faded from public memory. In the decade that followed, the Pacific shifted from a place of possibility to a theater of war, and the onset of World War II recast the relationship between the United States and Japan, leaving little space to celebrate a story rooted in cooperation, risk, and shared achievement.
This feature-length documentary will resurrect the full scope of Pangborn and Herndon’s journey, from barnstorming beginnings and oil-funded ambition, to imprisonment in Japan on espionage charges, to a harrowing, nearly fatal crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Told through a character-driven narrative, the film will weave archival materials, expert voices, and present-day exploration to ask a deeper question: why are some world-changing stories preserved in our collective memory, while others are quietly set aside by history?